Australian wildfire officers have faced a heartbreaking decision after 150 false killer whales washed up on a remote beach in Tasmania, Australia.
According to CNN, the whales were spotted near Arthur River on the island’s west coast late Tuesday, as confirmed by Tasmania’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
By Wednesday, it was revealed that only 90 whales survived, despite rescuers’ attempts to return two of them to the sea, strong winds and rough seas pushed them back ashore.
Shelley Graham, an incident controller with Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Service, explained:
“The waves are too strong, and the animals just can’t get past the break. They keep turning back towards the beach.”
As per the latest reports, authorities have decided to euthanize the distressed animals to end their suffering.
Marine biologist Dr. Tom Montgomery revealed on his X account that instead of using medications, the whales will be shot due to their massive size.
In similar cases, machinery is typically used to push stranded whales back into the sea, but the remote and inaccessible location made it impossible to transport such equipment.
Notably, the last time such a large number of false killer whales were stranded in Tasmania was in June 1974, when a pod of 160 to 170 whales was found at Black River beach on the island’s northern coast. However, there are no records of how many survived.
